Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1072449
5 8 P E R S P E C T I V E | M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 1 9 for the sculpting team. The room is ringed with statues of past champions, whose design was an extensive process involving the production of several small-scale maquettes. Beyond the weapons room was another built set, which served as a final antechamber to the gladiatorial stage. A circular vestibule buttressed by classical pillaring, it serves as a meeting point for the two brothers, and features a seething ring of lava, which indicates the opening to the arena above. As the action in the colosseum was mostly a matter of wirework and acrobatics filmed in front of blue screens, only the most basic of surfaces were built in proxy, stressing again the importance of having the environments designed in advance. Barely escaping Orm's wrath in the arena, Arthur is then forced to go on the run as he searches for a way to stop his brother's war. With all this attention given to the underwater sets, it's important to note that several key scenes still take place on the surface, and although the contrast between the two worlds was a key consideration of Brzeski's design approach, it was important to him that they could believably exist in the same space. Beginning with Arthur's hometown of Amnesty Bay, he wanted to imbue the surface sets with a sense of romanticism that harkened back to an earlier time. "We wanted to make Amnesty Bay a working-class fishing town," Brzeski explains, "these were blue-collar people who worked in the ocean as an industry, and it was part of their lives. The fantasy of a New England fishing town is a kind of antiquated now, so we wanted to bring back some of that lore." Of the Amnesty Bay sets, none was more important than the lighthouse where Arthur was raised. Situated upon a serene coastal bluff, it was the task of construction supervisor John Rann and his team to build a full exterior of the two-story lighthouse (with the tower itself being added in A. HALL OF ARMORY. PRODUCTION PHOTO OF STAGE SET. B. ANCIENT COMPUTER. PRODUCTION PHOTO OF PRACTICAL SET PIECE. C. ANCIENT COMPUTER. DETAIL DRAWING BY SET DESIGNER AIDAN GRAY. A B C